Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 13:3

In the year 332 B.C. Alexander the Great was catapulted into a position of leadership by the death of his father, Philip of Macedonia.  Alexander was 20 years old, barely out of his teens, but in little more than a decade, this young man had taken Greek civilization to the known world and had seen the great armies of the world fall under his sword.  During this time the people who were conquered tried to preserve their culture and identity; so in time, legends depicting their heroic heroism sprang up.  Such a legend was the story of Ahikar‑‑a Jewish hero who, according to the ancient story, was the governor of Israel.

Ahikar was a very wise man, so wise in fact that the knowledge of his wisdom spread to all the world.  The king, though, decided to test the brilliance of Ahikar, and, in fact, he plotted to embarrass wise Ahikar.  Thought the king, “I will ask Ahikar to build a castle‑‑a place in the sky‑‑in a certain length of time, and if he builds the castle in the sky, the Jews will not have to pay taxes or tribute; but if not, then we will double the tax.”

Obviously Ahikar was in a tight spot.  The king agreed to supply the materials if Ahikar would construct the palace or castle in the sky.  For weeks the wise Ahikar was baffled.  After all, who had ever built a palace in the sky?  It seemed that Ahikar would be forced to admit defeat, but then Ahikar got an idea.  He took two little boys and trained them to ride on the backs of eagles.  On the appointed day, Ahikar came to the palace of the King.  “Where, Ahikar, is my castle in the sky?”  “Oh, King,” said Ahikar, “come outside the palace with me.”  As the king and wise Ahikar walked outside, the two little boys on the backs of the eagles looked down at the king and shouted, “Send up the materials, o King, and we will build your castle in the sky.”

Castles in the sky are not unlike our dreams.  At some time or another everybody has lazily watched the clouds drift by and built a few castles in our imaginations.  Sometimes our dreams do become reality, and at other times they drift away like a puffy, cumulus cloud.  Years ago, there lived a man who built his castles for real and then saw them vanish into obscure darkness.  Jesus Christ told about the man in Luke, chapter 12.

He was extremely wealthy.  His was a life of elegance and pleasure, but he still was not satisfied.  It wasn’t enough.  He vowed, “I will tear down my warehouses and build bigger ones.”  Life, for this man, was all about amassing as much wealth as he possibly could.  Was he wise?  Jesus called him a fool–a fool because God had no part in his life.  “No man is truly a success until he writes, ‘Enter, God’ at the top of life’s page,” once said Robert Louis Stevenson.

The wealthy man never saw his dreams completely realized because that silent stalker, death, came quickly for the man and God said, “You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?”

Placing your faith in God is more than hoping for castles in the sky.

When Jesus Christ comes into your life, He gives you the assurance that you will live forever in a place called heaven.  Knowing Jesus means that the personal presence of God is yours, that He will walk with you and strengthen you day by day.  It means that the living God intersects your reality.  It means that you will begin to discover what life is all about.

Resource reading: Luke 12:14-34